Israeli Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (BMS-IL)
Citation
Peer I (2016). Israeli Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (BMS-IL). Version 6.17. ILS - Israeli Lepidopterists’ society. Sampling event dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/q4lynx accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-10-15.Description
The Israeli Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (BMS-IL). The phenology and abundance estimates derived from the systematic observations performed by BMS-IL observers, serve as excellent indicators for trends in biodiversity, impacts of land-use change, and climate change. Particularly, due to Israel's geographic location, the migration of desert species serves as a valuable indicator of the impacts of extreme weather events on biodiversity. We share our data openly with the philosophy that transparency and sharing are routes for rapid knowledge generation, cooperation, and capacity building. New collaborations are extremely valuable to make the most of the data. Researchers are more thus encouraged to contact the dataset owners to collaborate on joint analyses and meta-analyses. Note the dataset can also be explored here: http://www.gluecad.com/buttdb/hompage.asp?lng=engPurpose
The main objective of the scheme is to provide reliable data for assessing the status and trends in the abundance and phenology of Israel's butterflies, for both conservation and research purposes.
Sampling Description
Study Extent
Transect walks for Butterfly Monitoring Schemes (BMS) in Europe are usually performed weekly, but here in Israel, we conduct them once every two weeks from the beginning of October to the end of June - to account for the longer activity period of butterflies in Israel, and the impacts of climate change.Sampling
Transects are divided into 50m sections and range between 300m and 600m in total length. A transect usually covers a single habitat type. The observer counts the number of every butterfly species that can be seen within a 5m range for each section within the transect. As in all other systematic Butterfly Monitoring Schemes (BMS), the entire transect must always be walked (partial transect walks are not recorded). Furthermore, when no butterfly species are seen for the entire transect, the absence event is still recorded using “-s00” standard notation. Special behaviours such as egg laying or drinking nectar as well as butterfly larvae or eggs can be recorded as well.Quality Control
Every reported record is flagged "forApproval". Record status is changed to "Approved" upon and by expert only. Species out of season or distribution area are flagged for additional verification.Method steps
- Selection of location and route of transect is verified by a scientific/principal investigator.
- On the first visit to a new transect, the observer is guided by an expert along the transect. Note each section is numbered and marked.
- Start time and weather conditions are recorded first.
- During transect walk, the observer walks the entire transect and for each section records the count of every butterfly species that can be seen within a 5x5x5m imaginary cube (i.e., within a range of 2.5 m to the sides and 5 m front and above).
- To avoid errors in abundance calculations, individuals that cannot be identified to the species level are registered either by family or as a predefined complex of two or three similar species.
- Butterflies seen outside of the 5m range can be recorded by the observer as ‘Extra’ alongside the code of the nearest section (e.g. 5-extra). However, these extra observations are regarded as sporadic data and are never included in the total number of butterflies observed within the controlled transect area.
- Time ends is recorded.
- If no butterflies are seen for the entire transect, the observer types "non seen" to ensure that the absence event is still registered. Note this is important later on when modelling butterfly flight curves and abundances taking into consideration all observations events.
- Observer logs in to the server and types in the data. Absence events are recorded using “-s00” – standard notation.
- Data is ready for verification by the expert.
Additional info
All sampling events in this dataset are recorded at the section level. Users who wish to derive butterfly density, please sum up all butterflies observed in all sections within a given transect, and calculate the area as "total-transect-length x 5m". The total number of sections within a given transect can be found in the measurements or facts data.Taxonomic Coverages
Butterflies
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Lepidopterarank: order
Geographic Coverages
Israel Borders
Bibliographic Citations
- For more information on Israel's butterflies, see Benyamini, D. (2002) A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Israel, Including of Mt. Hermon, Sinai and Jordan (Revised edition). Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem (in Hebrew. Maps and activity periods are illustrated visually). -
- For effective data analysis, see: Dennis, E. B., Freeman, S. N., Brereton, T., Roy, D. B. (2013), Indexing butterfly abundance whilst accounting for missing counts and variability in seasonal pattern. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 4: 637–645. doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.12053 - https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12053
- Schmucki, R., G. Pe'er, D. B. Roy, C. Stefanescu, C. Van Swaay, T. H. Oliver, M. Kuusaari, A. Van Strien, L. Ries, J. Settele, M. Musche, J. Carnicer, O. Schweiger, T. Brereton, A. Harpke, J. Heliölä, E. Kühn, and R. Julliard (2015) Regionally informed abundance index for supporting integrative analyses across butterfly monitoring schemes. Journal of Applied Ecology, online first. doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12561 - https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12561
- For guidelines on systematic butterfly monitoring see Van Swaay, C., Regan, E., Ling, M., Bozhinovska, E., Fernandez, M., Marini-Filho, O.J., Huertas, B., Phon, C.-K., K”orösi, A., Meerman, J., Pe’er, G., Uehara-Prado, M., Sáfián, S., Sam, L., Shuey, J., Taron, D., Terblanche, R., and Underhill, L. (2015). Guidelines for Standardised Global Butterfly Monitoring. Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network, Leipzig, Germany. GEO BON Technical Series 1, 32pp. - http://www.geobon.org/Downloads/reports/GEOBON/2015/Global%20Butterfly%20Monitoring_Web.pdf
Contacts
Israel Peeroriginator
position: Database admin
GlueCAD
Hantke 39
Haifa
3460814
IL
Telephone: +972-4-8265365
email: israel@gluecad.com
homepage: http://www.gluecad.com/buttdb
Israel Peer
metadata author
position: Database admin
GlueCAD
Hantke 39
Haifa
3460814
IL
Telephone: +972-4-8265365
email: israel@gluecad.com
homepage: http://www.gluecad.com/buttdb
Dubi Benyamini
content provider
position: President
The Israeli Lepidopterists Society
91 Levona Str.
Bet Arye
71947
IL
Telephone: 972 8 9297093
email: parpar4u@gmail.com
Guy Pe'er
principal investigator
position: Scientific Administrator
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Permoserstr. 15, 04318
Leipzig
DE
Telephone: +49-341-2351643
email: guy.peer@ufz.de
homepage: http://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=15885
Kyle Braak
processor
GBIF
DK
email: kbraak@gbif.org
userId: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3696-3496
Israel Peer
administrative point of contact
position: Database admin
GlueCAD
Hantke 39
Haifa
3460814
IL
Telephone: +972-4-8265365
email: israel@gluecad.com
homepage: http://www.gluecad.com/buttdb